The Quiet Persistence of A Dream
by rainbowfreak
Summary: Once in a while people push onto something better. Sometimes they run for their lives. If there's an end, there'll be a start too. Brucas, one-shot.


A/N: This ain't one of my best. I tried to make it breathtaking, you know, important - well, that turned out quite lousy. Hope you like even a bit though, and I'd appreciate reviews more than you know!

It's just a little... thing. Includes my favourite scene, hah.

Summary: Once in a while people push onto something better. Sometimes they run for their lives. If there's an end, there'll be a start too.

Disclaimer: I think everybody knows that I don't own Brooke or Lucas. That's too bad. :(

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_"There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads. The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days."_

She always surprised him.

When they had first met, he'd thought she was just a swallow piece of plastic that followed the flow of every other people, that she'd be the bitch that she let everyone think she was - not even for a minute he had thought that there'd be this insanely kind-hearted girl that Brooke had been under the mask.

Their start had been the night Peyton was drugged. She had been so worried, showing the caring side of her, how much love she carried inside; and when the morning came and she had kissed his cheek, his opinion of Brooke Davis had changed forever.

That had been their first start.

_"And, of course when faced with the unknown, most of us prefer to turn around and go back."_

Peyton. Brooke. Peyton. Brooke. Peyton.

He didn't know which one to choose. There was Brooke, Brooke who was funny, easy-going, _caring _and _loving_ and _surprising_ girl who he though he could come to love. And then there was Peyton who he had loved since - well, he couldn't even remember. But the fact was that he loved the blonde, and now it seemed that the blonde could actually some day feel the same way towards him.

It should have been easy. After his and Peyton's moment in hotel his head had been spinning, he had smiled and felt so alive; but then he had seen Brooke's worried face as she hugged her best friend, he had seen the panic that Brooke had tried to hide in her eyes, he had seen the relief - and he wished he hadn't noticed. What would Brooke say when she'd find out? What would he do?

Two weeks after he held the blonde in her arms and decided that this was how it was supposed to be; so why did it feel so wrong?__

"There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads."

He loved Brooke. He had fallen for her again, seen how much she had grown, and before now he hadn't quite known how to describe the feeling he got whenever being around the brunette. As soon as he had realized the feeling he felt was _love, affection_ he had gone to Anna, told her there was another girl and rushed to Brooke's home.

Just to turn around after seeing Felix - why was he there, hadn't they broken up? - kissing his Brooke, and seeing Brooke kiss him back.__

"But, once in a while, people push onto something better. Something found just beyond the pain of going it alone. And just beyond the bravery and courage it takes to let someone in."

"I wanna be with you Brooke."

He had gone this moment over and over again in his head, and now, as her taxi waited outside and she was leaving, he had panicked and said it in the stupidest way that was possible.

He had kissed her. He had kisser her and _oh it had felt so good,_ but the look on her face made him acknowledge the fact that maybe he'd be the one ending up heart broken. He hadn't seen Brooke looking so vulnerable in a long time, and now as he watched her trying to hold her tears, he felt his panic rising.

And he watched her leave.__

"Or to give someone a second chance."

"There are 82 letters in here, and they're all addressed to you. I wrote them all this summer, one a day, but I never sent them because I was afraid. Afraid of getting my heart broken again."

It was Lucas who'd had his part of heartbreak. And as he watched Brooke crying in front of him, trying so desperately to make him forgive her, care about her, and trying so desperately trust him, he felt how his anger started to fade. There was a twist in his heart as he thought the irony of the situation again and again, thought about how they never seemed to get it quite right.

Maybe they hadn't just tried hard enough?

"This is how I spent my summer, Luke. Wanting you. I was just too scared to admit it."

They were always scared. So scared, running for their lives, because that's what everybody does; runs from their problems, because they tend to look smaller from afar. And he was so sick of being scared, not having enough time to catch his breath and wait for anyone.

"Brooke!"

This was it. Something would end, something would begin.

"What you did with Chris... It's okay." _I forgive you, Pretty Girl._

"Something beyond the quiet persistence of a dream."


End file.
